Norwegian Cruise Line recently welcomed a custom-built ship for the Chinese cruise
market – the Norwegian Joy to its fleet. Joy offers a luxurious experience for up to 3
850 guests. The ship features the first race track at sea; multiple bars, restaurants
and casinos; a shopping centre; a water park; and a theatre. To help set the right
mood for the ship’s many and varied attractions, the vessel is equipped with multiple
lighting control desks and an array of lighting fixtures from ETC.

At 167 725 tonnes and 326 metres (1,069 feet) long, Joy is one of the largest cruise
ships ever built and was constructed by German shipbuilder Meyer Werft in
Papenburg, Germany. AV systems integrator Wartsila Funa Solutions was appointed to
deliver the entertainment systems for the ship’s numerous attractions. The Funa team
specified a total of 10 ETC lighting control consoles, positioned in strategic locations
throughout the cruise ship. Sarah Wegner, a freelance lighting programmer and event
technology specialist, was entrusted with the installation, setup and programming of
the desks. Reliability was the overriding factor in determining the choice of consoles.
“It’s essential that the consoles function reliably since it is not possible to get a
replacement when the ship is on the high seas,’ explains Wegner. “There is a mobile
Ion, which could be exchanged in an emergency, but otherwise you have to wait until
you are back on dry land.”

In the ship’s theatre, which provides an experience to rival venues on the mainland,
an ETC Eos® RPU is used for primary lighting control, with a Gio® console as a
backup. Ion® and Gio consoles are dotted around the ship for lighting control for a
wide range of the other onboard attractions. The requirements are quite diverse: the
Supper Club restaurant offers an intimate theatre experience; the Spice H2O bar
takes inspiration from summer beach parties; there’s an aqua park with waterslides; a
small atrium stage; and an outdoor disco. An ETC lighting control desk is also used in
the Galaxy Pavilion, which transports visitors into a virtual entertainment world
featuring thrilling interactive experiences, including racing simulators and a virtual
roller coaster.

“The theatre shows are programmed by the production team,’ says Wegner. “For all
the other areas I have saved cues and stored them either on a server or in the desk.’
Media Tubes installed in the Galaxy Pavilion and Spice H2O for effect lighting take
advantage of Eos’ pixel mapping capabilities. To achieve the desired looks, Wegner
created the Media Tubes on an Ion control desk in pixel mapping view. “Eos software
is ideal for this,’ adds Wegner. “I was able to check in the preview how the parameters
affected the overall picture. I prepared everything in there and saved some sample
cues.’

Additionally, the Galaxy Pavilion, Supper Club and atrium are equipped with a
selection of ColorSource® Spot and PAR luminaires. These four-colour LED fixtures
are capable of supplying bright, colourful light that can be tailored to suit the distinct
needs of the different venues. And, it’s not just the cruise passengers benefitting from
ETC technology on Norwegian Joy. Behind the scenes, in the crew disco, Wegner has
programmed an Ion console with a selection of different cues, comfortably retrievable
by the crew from the server.